


bloom by the ruins of a house

by qelos (midheaven)



Series: a song is fireworks [3]
Category: Keyakizaka46 (Band), Sakurazaka46 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:48:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26476726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midheaven/pseuds/qelos
Summary: “inoue,” you exhale. “what do you think—what do you think i consider you as?”yumiko finds herself revealing what she keeps close.
Relationships: Inoue Rina/Seki Yumiko
Series: a song is fireworks [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1912633
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	bloom by the ruins of a house

**Author's Note:**

> of course, after a nogi & hinata pair, here’s a keyaki one. apologies if this pairing seems very out of left field—i’m not really an active participant in sakamichi fanspace, so i’m not aware of what pairs are talked about. i’m just really charmed by inoue being a seemingly goofy but in fact thoughtful person, and how yumiko’s reserved personality contrasts with that. also they keep whispering to each other during keyakake recordings, and ugh. (thank you japanese alphabetical order for having them beside each other).
> 
> that was long, woops. title from shiki.

梨さくや  
戦のあとの  
崩れ家  
正岡 子規

“inoue,” you exhale. “what do you think—what do you think i consider you as?”

it’s warm. hotter than you’re used to. sunset heat streams in from the windows. you can see the dust floating in the air.

rina frowns. her eyes roam. “a good friend. your best friend, if i’m stretching.”

and there’s that grin again. such a weapon, you think. 

“you’d be wrong.” 

the footsteps in the hall go quiet. it’s just you and her left in the classroom. the cicadas buzz.

“i don’t think i’ve ever wanted someone as much as i do you.”

  
  


the whispers started early. 

_i hear the new transferee is an heiress from fukuoka_ ; _what is she doing all the way here?;_ _she must be stuck-up_ ; _she’ll be gone in no time_ ; _let’s see if we can be her friend._

it’s been a month and a half. they haven’t stopped. 

after english class, the girl in front of you twists in her chair to ask you, “seki, did you understand anything in chapter 4?”

you look up from your notes, mostly out of reflex from your name. you know her. inoue rina. funny. deep laugh. slight lisp. 

you stare at her for a moment because— _no one_ talks to you, not ever. you look around and see if she meant someone else. when you look back, she’s still looking at you. eyes earnest. “me?” you ask, pointing to yourself. 

“y-yes …” rina trails off before frowning. “it’s seki, right? seki yumiko-san?”

you blink. “yes, it’s just that—no one really talks to me, so.”

it comes out before you could stop yourself. 

“oh,” rina says. then her face breaks into a grin. “i’ll change that.”

  
  


“have you been waiting long?”

“not at all.” 

shinsekai is exactly what it is. a new world. there’s a calm to the chaos. no whispers to haunt you here—just conversations and greetings and calls for customers. 

rina had invited you out. it’s saturday afternoon. she wanted to introduce you to the wonders of this new city you’ve found yourself in. 

she takes you for a stroll. rina tells you how the food in this stall is good, but not better than the next. tells you her memories tucked in each corner. tells you where to go next summer. tells you about the shops that she’d loved but had gone and closed. 

“and by the way,” she says, “tsutenkaku is prettier at night. let’s go up to the viewing deck later!”

your heart lurches in your throat. blood drains from your face. “oh,” you tell her. “i’m deathly afraid of heights.”

they’re terrifying enough in the day. but at night?

rina puts a hand to her chin. you realise that you’ve told her something you usually keep to yourself again. you’re anxious, for a moment, _come on_ , she’ll say, _the tower isn’t that bad—_

“the lights are pretty too,” she says. “even if you’re on the ground.”

her smile is warm. it’s perfectly fine. snaggletoothed and crescent-eyed.

the lump in your throat stays.

  
  


you grow close. 

it’s not hard. rina is insistent. presses. leans in. always knocking. always curious. 

with the growing closeness comes all the things that have been stirring at the pit of your stomach since she said hello. 

you recognise it. you acknowledge it—then tuck it away. 

weeks into months. lunches with rina. studying with rina. afternoons. a weekend, now and then.

once, in the sweet period in-between classes, rina spots you struggling with a science worksheet. she picks up the sheet from your desk. 

“just manipulate the gas law, seki-chan.” she tells you. sets it back down on your desk. “pv = nrT. start from there.”

you stare back at the problem. pv = nrT—

“don’t look so surprised,” rina says. 

“it’s just that—” you look back up at her. “you don’t look the studious type.”

rina scoffs. you realise a habit is forming. a loosening of your tongue around her. 

are you irresponsible? or is rina comfortable?

“i forget you’re new here,” she says. there’s that smile again. the dip of skin by her eye. “seki-chan, i’m top of the class in science.”

your jaw drops. rina laughs and laughs.

  
  
  


being with rina makes you feel like you’re yourself.

not yumiko of the seki family. not the seki family’s eldest. not the future of the company.

just yumiko.

rina watches every video you send her. she tells you when she finds it funny. when she doesn’t. tells you what it reminds her of. whispers it to you in class, an inside joke. 

“seki-chan,” she calls, leaning in. discreet as she can be. the squeak of the teacher’s pen on the whiteboard drowns it out.

“inoue,” you say. “i don’t like being called by my last name. it doesn’t feel nice.”

there’s your new habit. but this time you let it happen. you feel like you can tell rina anything at this point.

and rina calling you with the same name your father’s employees call you makes you taste ash in your mouth.

“and you’re only telling me now?” she asks. “yumiko-chan, then?”

you signal a thumbs up. she smiles, opens her mouth to say something—but is caught. she’s asked to face back front. you stifle a laugh. 

  
  


the whispers still haven’t stopped. 

pictures of you at galas, at sporting events, in advertisements of the company, shared and scattered, like bees in the wind, the buzzing of notifications in a group chat. the net worth of your family now common knowledge. they shy away from you in the halls, then gather when you’ve past them. even from your teachers you sense a reluctance.

your move to ōsaka was supposed to combat this. it’s made it worse.

“why don’t you say it to her face?’ you hear a raised voice say. a voice you’d know anywhere.

you walk toward her and tug on her wrist. she’s cornered three girls. “inoue,” you whisper, “let it go.”

“yumi—”

“let’s go.”

she relents. you lead her to the courtyard. it’s louder here. whispers don’t reach you.

“it’s all true, anyway,” you tell her, because that’s what you do now. tell rina everything. “i’m due to take over the company in ten years. going to school in fukuoka was harsh. this school gives me a better shot at a good college, and to be far from home. i live alone here, and i’ll admit it’s hard. i’m still learning how to do housework—”

“but that’s not _everything!_ ” rina exclaims. “you’re—to me, that’s not you. i don’t care if you’re an heiress to a conglomerate or to a throne or to a syndicate. you’re the shy yumiko-chan who sits behind me. the yumiko-chan scared of heights, the yumiko-chan who doesn’t like being called by her last name. the yumiko-chan i hang out with, the yumiko-chan i help her science homework with. that’s all i need to know about you. i don’t care about the rest.”

it rings in your ears. it almost hurts. 

your chest feels like it’s caving in on itself. your eyes sting. it _hurts._ you’ve never been just yumiko. always _seki yumiko_. always carrying something except yourself. rina’s the first. rina’s the only one.

“other people need to know that, too,” rina says, voice softer now. dejected, almost.

“other people can say whatever they want,” you tell her, brave. “i’m okay as long as i have you.”

  
  


it feels almost cruel to hide something from her.

something that involves her so deeply. something so big that not telling her would be lying. what she told you echoes still. you need to tell her. you haven’t been able to pay attention in class.

the final bell rings. “wait for me?” you ask rina, who had already picked up her bag and was about to head for the door.

she nods. 

you stay. you stay and busy yourself. on your phone, with your homework. you stay and gather your courage. an hour passes. almost everyone has left. rina hasn’t said a word—has sat patiently, ever gentle, ever understanding. you ache again.

the cicadas buzz. the room warms.

you tell her how you feel about her.

and the she _sighs_ , loud, halfway to a laugh, and she’s smiling so wide—that snaggle-toothed, crescent-eyed one that makes you feel like there’s fireworks in your chest. she’s laughing and she walks toward you and she takes your hand, and she says,

“it took me a month to introduce myself to you because i thought you were the prettiest girl i’ve ever seen,” she says, and she’s laughing with her breaths. “i’m so glad you feel the same, i didn’t know if being around you all the time while i had feelings for you was okay, really, yumiko-chan, this is the best thing i’ve heard—”

you let her go on. let her pour out her heart’s content to you; after all the times you’ve let your thoughts slip to her, you should let her do the same. you couldn’t speak if you wanted to, anyway; rina sharing your feelings has given you so much joy that you don’t have words for it. that you’ve caused that smile on her face. 

and in the future, more secrets will be shared. more stories. no more whispers. rina will know your heart and you’ll know hers.

you can hardly wait.

**Author's Note:**

> >if anyone hasn’t gathered yet, all of the fics in this series are set in a high school in osaka. i forgot to clarify this in the two previous works.   
>  >and on that note, apologies if the series seems disjointed; my idea is that, again, everyone here attends the same school, but this fic kind of blows that off the rails, lmao. spare me suspension of disbelief? (hono would have been here if she could but i couldn’t find anywhere to slot her in. in any case, she thirdwheels these two a lot and these two are her biggest cheerleaders in her games).
> 
> cc is once again [here](http://curiouscat.me/pisceshorizon). feel free to leave your thoughts there or below!


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